Volkswagen used this week's 2018 Geneva International Motor Show to unveil the ID Vizzion concept, a large electric sedan that is more or less a replacement for the Phateon that ended production two years ago.
The ID Vizzion will go into production by 2022, Volkswagen said, and is intended to show that even in a future in which cars may be all-electric and drive themselves. VW intends to offer "desirable, expressive and individual automobiles—not just uniform tin boxes," they said in a statement.
The company released no technical details or specifications for what is effectively a design study, although it projected that the production version would provide a battery range up to 400 miles (600 km) when measured on the European test cycle.
Volkswagen ID Vizzion Concept
Other than that, we know only that the ID Vizzion will share the same MEB architecture as the three other vehicles in the Volkswagen ID electric-car lineup. They are the ID hatchback, which will go into production in November 2019, followed by a production version of the ID Crozz compact crossover. That'll be the first long-range electric Volkswagen to go on sale in the U.S., sometime in 2020. An electric microbus, dubbed ID Buzz, may figure into that mix.
The ID Crozz is intended to be luxurious, and VW promises it will be equipped with the necessary hardware to provide full self-driving abilities as those roll out.
The main market for this large electric sedan may be China, where wealthy buyers still enjoy being chauffeured through crowded traffic in the back seats of luxurious sedans—and where, at some point in the future, the central government will ban the sale of new vehicles with gasoline or diesel engines altogether.
That makes a premium all-electric sedan from a brand familiar to Chinese buyers an appealing proposition, even if it may not make it to the SUV-loving United States.
For more from the Geneva auto show, head to our dedicated hub.
